Machine for applying powdered material to articles



D. G. ACKERLY MACHINE FOR APPLYING POWDERED MATERIAL TO ARTICLES Filed Sept. 14, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet l o I IA 8 1 4 H- 9 a '2: v Q

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Aug. 13, 1929. D. G. ACKERLY 1,724,543

' MACP IINE FOR APPLYING POWDERED MATERIAL TO ARTICLES Filed Sept. 14, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Cantizzuously rotated but periodically Paz'wdand- 27 lowered 0am! and inner Zz'mz'ts of Oxide.

Carbon INVENTOR 50 clutch 7 for a atented Aug. is, rare.

nonnan a. scream, orwrmmssuac, rnimsravama, assieuon we ran anion SWITCH & SIGNAL COMPANY, OF SWISSVALE, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPQ'IHL'QIJ' 9F EENNSYLVANIA.

MACHINE FOR. AFPLYINGPQWDERED MATERIAL IO ARTICLES.

- Application filed September 14, 1926. Serial Ito. 185,48 1.

'one form of. asymmetric element, perforated w disks composed of a metal having a com: pound of the metal formed thereon, for exam le copper having copper oxideformed; thei eon, are assembled on a' bolt. ,In order.

to insure proper electrical contact between K the elements, lead washers. are placed next to the elements. The surface of the oxide next to the lead washers must be coated with some finely divided low resistance material such as carbon, inorder to reduce the ac contact resistance between the oxide and the lead. I provide a machine for automatically applying this material and rubbing it into the-surface of the disk. I 1

I will describe one form of mach ne em bodying my invention, andthen polnt out the novel features thereof in cla1ms.

'. In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1s

a plan view of one form ofmachme embodying my-inve'ntion. Fig. 2 is asectlon taken so on the line II--II of Fig. 1 with certain parts omitted for the. sake of clearness. Fig.

*3 is a section taken on the line III-III of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is. a top viewof one-of the finished articles. i 35 Similar reference characters refer to similar parts in each of the several views.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the reference character 1 designates a base plate, which is supported by any suitable means (not shown) andsupports a disk 3-hav1ng evenly spaced perforations 4 therein. Between the disk 3 and the. base plate 1 and secured to the base plate is a pad 2 composed of soft rubber or other suitable cushioning material.

The base plate 1 and the pad 2 have an opening 42 into which projects a rod 43 for .a purpose which will be laterdescribed. The disk 3 is rotated byineans of a shaft 6, the, shaft being driven through a slippurpose which will appear hereinafter. I

tated at a relatively low s A cylindrical magazine 8 is secured to the base plate 1 by means of a clamp 9, and in such a posltlon as to register with the perforations in the'disk 3 as they pass in succession. The magazine 8 when filled with disks 5 feeds them by gravity into the perforations 4 in the disk 3 and they are carried along in the direction shown by the arrow. The perforations 4 are slightly larger in dlameter than the disks 5 so as to allow the disks to drop freely without wedging.

A. cylindrical reservoir 10 for supplying powdered material to the disks is also mount ed above the path of the perforations d in the disk 3. Thls reservoir is secured to the base plate 1 in any suitable manner as by means of a clamp 11 secured to a stud 12.

"The reservoir 10 contains sifting mechanism.

for supplying the powdered material to the disks 5 as they pass beneath it. V This siftmg mechanism comprises a fine mesh sieve 13 (see Fig. 2) stretched across the reservoir 10 near the lower end thereof and asoraper 14- mounted above it and arranged to rub over its top surface. 'The scraper 1a is mounted in the reservoir 10 by means of stub shafts 15 and 16 journaled in. the wall of the reservoir. The scraper M is actuated through a gear '18 secured to the stub shaft 15 when the gear ismoved in one direction, but a one-way clutch 44 allows the gear to rotate in the other direction independently of the stub-shaft 15. A coil spring 17 on the stubshaft 16 between the enlarged portion 19 thereof and the wall of the reservoir 10 prevents the scraper. from rotating except when'the gear 18 is actuated in the proper direction. When the reservoir 10 is filled with powdered material such as carbon and the gear :18 is actuated, the scraper 14 stirs the carbon and by rubbing a inst the sieve 13 sifts the carbon out of't e reservoir 10 onto the disk 5 which is beneathit.

Referring now to Fig. 3 the reference character 20 designates a supporting head secured to the base plate 1 adjacent the disk 3-by means of bolts 21. The head 20 carries a vertical spindle 27 which is continuously ro ed but is periodically raised and lower b any suitable mechanism. This type of mec anism is well known in the art andis omitted from the drawing for the sake of simplicity. Se-

cured to the spindle 27 by means of a .set

' is free to reciprocate up and down as the 26 shall be exactly centered over a erfora-v tion 4 when the s indle 27 is lowere I pro- 30 s indle 27 is raised or lowered. The spindle 27 has an enlarged head 25 to which is secured a friction ring 26 composed of rubber or other suitable rubbing material. When the spindle 27 is in its lower extreme position the ring 26 engages a disk 5 in the perforation 4 beneath it and rubs powdered material onto the surface of the disk, but when spindle 27 is in its upper extreme position the ring 26 rotates freely.

V In applying powdered material to the disks it is important that a certain areabe covered and that none be rubbed onto the edges of the oxide. In Fig. 4 the shaded area indicates approximately the art of the oxide which should be covered. be ring 26 is made of such-size as to engage this part of a disk. In order to insure that the ring vide a latch 32 aving an integral do 33 for engaging slots 31 in the periphery of? the disk 3. When the spindle 27 is down the latch 32 is actuated by a compression spring 34 to force the dog 32 into a slot 31 and to hold the disk 3 stationary until the spindle 27 is raised,-the slip-clutch] being ad usted to rotate the disk 3 normally, but to slip when latch 32 engages a slot 31. When the spindle 27 is up, the latch 32 is raised against t e action of spring 34.

The latch operating mechanism comprises a support 35 secured to member 22 and on which is pivoted an arm 36 having a slot 37 for engaging. the latch 32. When the spindle 27 is lowered-the arm 36 allows latch 32 to move freely under the action of spring 34 but when the spindle 27 is raised, arm 36 is raised carrying with it the latch.32 which then engages the lower extremity of slot 37 and releases dog 33 from slot 31 against the action of the spring 34. In order to allow slight freedom of the arm 36 when the latch of a s ring 39.

Eac time that a disk 5 is placed beneath the reservoir 10 the sifting mechanism must be 0 erated, hence I provide means actuated t e spindle 27 for performing this opera- Secured to the members 22 and 24 is integral therewith a vertical rack 41. This rack is always in engagey tion.

I ment. with the gear 18 for operating the scraper 14 and the sifting'mechanism 1s op- :erated each time that the spindle 27 is lowered but when the spindle 27 raised the gear rotates loosely "on the shaft 15, since the one-way clutch 44 allows scraper 14 to be actuated only when rack 41' moves downward.

In describing the operation of the machine, I will assume that the shaft 6 is being driven at the proper speed and that the spindle 27 is rotating and is raised once every two seconds; also that reservoir 10 is filled with'finely divided carbon and magazine 8 with disks having their oxide coating upward.

The disks 5 in magazine 8 will drop into the perforations 4 in disk 3 as the disk rotates and will be carried along. When a a disk 5 comes under the ring 26 the spindle 27 will be lowered and latch 32 being released will lock the disk 3. After the ring movement of the spindle 27, rack 41 will.

rotate the gear 18 and sift carbon from the reservoir 10. It will thus be seen that while one of the disks 5 is being rubbed by ring 26 another disk is being supplied with carbon and still another; is dropping mto a perforation 4 from the magazine ,8.

' After a disk is rubbed with carbon it is carried along during each period of rotation of the disk 3 until it comes over the o ning 42 in the base-plate 1 through which it falls and is caught on the rod 43. The speed of operation of the spindle 27 and the shaft 6 ma be so adjusted that the rubbing of the dis sis properly completed between reciprocations of the spindle 27, and then it is merely necessary to keep. reservoir 10 filled with carbon, and the magazine 8 with disks, to continuously apply carbon to the disks and prepare them for assembly.

Although I have herein shown and descr1bed=only one form of machine embodying my invention, it is understood that various changes and modifications may be made therem within the scope of the appended 'claims without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

A machine for terial to rectifier disks comprising a base plate, a perforated disk rotatable above said plate, a' magazine mounted above said disk for receiving a supply of said rectifier disks and dehvering them one at a time to the perforations in said rotatable disk, a' reservoir located above said rotatable disk' adjacent applying powdered mathe path of travel of said perforations, a of said rectifier disks to distribute said owreciprocable rotating spindle, a scraper ardered material over a limited portion 0 the ran ed to deliver powdered material from surface of said rectifier disk, .and locking 1e saif reservoir to a rectifier disk in one of' means for said rotatable disk controlled by said perforations when the spindlemoves'in reciprocation of said spindle.

' one direction, a friction ring carried by said Intestimony whereof I aifix my si ature.

spindle and arranged to at times engage one DONALD G. ACKE LY. 

